1.Scott A. EkleberryTiffin UniversityTiffin, Ohio USA

2. Commonly used for water and food packaging. Take at least 500 years to biodegrade in a landfill(Benefits-Of-Recycling, 2010). Plastic bottles take up millions of cubic yards oflandfill space each year (Benefits-Of-Recycling,2010).Just in the US, PET plastic bottle sales increasedfrom around 32 billion in 2000, to around 72billion in 2006; growth of 225% in just six years(Hoy, 2009). 28.8 billion PET bottles ended up in US landfillsin 2006 alone (Hoy, 2009). 3. (Hoy 2009) 4. (Hoy 2009) 5. Aluminum is one of the most sustainablemetals we use; a recycled aluminum canmay be back on a grocery shelf, in one formor another, in as few as sixty days(Cummings, 2007). By 2006, the US alone had discarded morethan one trillion aluminum beverage cansworth about $15 billion US (Spillman 11-12).It takes about four hundred years for analuminum can to break down naturally(Cummings, 2007). 6. The US airline industry is one of the worstoffenders; every year the US airlines throw, awayenough aluminum cans to build fifty-eightBoeing 747 aircraft. One cited reason for theairlines not recycling is that little if any recyclinginfrastructure exists at most airports (Farley 21-22). Since aluminum is renewable, recycling 100% ofwhat we have right now would mean we wouldnever have to make any more; that means nomore destructive mining and purification(professorshouse.com). 7. Aluminum is worth money; each can is worthabout one cent in United States Dollars; throwingaluminum cans away is like throwing money inthe trash (Cummings, 2007). The other cost of sending aluminum cans to thelandfill are in energy; making aluminum cansfrom raw ore takes about ninety-five percentmore energy than recycling used aluminum cans(Cummings, 2007). The recycling of just one aluminum can will saveenough energy to light a one hundred watt lightbulb for four hours, or run a television for up tothree hours (Cummings, 2007). 8. (Hoy 2009) 9. Start with children in school sothey become good ecologicalstewards their entire lives. Government sponsoredcommunity education outliningthe environmental impact offailure to recycle. 10. Using central container methods ofrecycling (Guang-Hua Zhang, 2007). China is using Pyrolysis-catalyticupgrade methods to extract fuel oilfrom mixed plastic waste (Guang-HuaZhang, 2007). According to the yield of convertingwaste plastics to oil in China, plasticwastes weighing 1.92 ton can produce 1ton of fuel oil (Guang-Hua Zhang,2007). 11. One pitcher filter can effectively replaceas much as 300 standard 16.9-ouncebottles (Dorfman). The average pitcher filters 240 gallonsof water a year for about 19 cents a day.Put in perspective, to get the sameamount of water from bottled waterwould require 1,818 16.9-ounce waterbottles a year (Dorfman). 12. In 1997, the Packaging Waste Recycling Law was putinto operation (Tokai & Furuichi, 1999). Since the laws inception, the quantity of recoveredplastic wastes has been increasing in Japan. PET bottles are particularly targeted (Tokai &Furuichi, 1999). One policy uses waste plastic as a fuel source;thermal recycling (Tokai & Furuichi, 1999). Another policy uses waste plastics as raw materialfor more plastic manufactured goods (Tokai &Furuichi, 1999). 13. The Environment Act imposed a legalrequirement for plastic packaging to berecycled (D.N. Smith, 1999). Throughout the UK there are 3024 plasticbottle banks located on 2164 sites for post-consumer drop-off (D.N. Smith, 1999). There are 255 curbside collection schemesin the UK covering 8163146 households, ofthese, 80 schemes collect plastic bottles andthese covered 1926925 households at the endof 1997 (D.N. Smith, 1999). 14. Bottle recycling in the UKTons of plastic bottles recycled 1990-1997 by year8000 19977000600019965000 19954000 199430001993 1992200019911000 19900(D.N. Smith, 1999) 15. (Hoy, 2009). 85% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 40% 30% 20% 10%0% PET Bottles Recycled PET Bottles Recycled Without Deposit With Deposit(Hoy 2009) 16. Plastic and aluminum containers posevery serious environmental problems for future generations. With properly administeredenvironmental education andrecycling programs the amount of plastic and aluminum containers entering our planets landfills can becut by 50% or more. 17. Benefits-Of-Recycling. Recycling Plastic Bottles.2010, 16 April 2010 http://www.benefits-of-recycling.com/recyclingplasticbottles.html. Bhat, Vasanthakumar N. The green corporation : thenext competitive advantage. First. Westport: QuorumBooks, 1996. Cummings, Larry. Facts about Aluminum Recycling.2 April 2007. 16 April 2009http://earth911.com/news/2007/04/02/facts-about-aluminum-recycling/. D.N. Smith, L. H. (1999). A survey of schemes in theUnited Kingdom collecting plastic bottles forrecycling. Resources, Conservation and Recycling(50), 1734. 18. Dorfman., J. (n.d.). Learn the Facts. Retrieved May7, 2010, from FILTERFORGOOD.COM:http://www.filterforgood.com/facts/ Earth911.com. Facts About Plastic Bottles. 2007. 16April 2010http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/facts-about-plastic-bottles/. Facts About Plastic Bottles. 16 April 2010http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottles/facts-about-plastic-bottles/. Farley, David. "The Not So Green Skies." ScientificAmerican September 2009, 3 ed.: 21-22 . 19. Guang-Hua Zhang, J.-F. Z. (2007). Prospect andcurrent status of recycling waste plastics andtechnology for converting them into oil in China.Resources, Conservation and Recycling (50), 231239. Hoy, Valerie. Graphs & Data for Plastic. 2009. 16April 2010 http://www.container-recycling.org/facts/data.php?materials=plastic. professorshouse.com. Recycling Aluminum Cans -Fun Facts. 2007. 16 April 2010http://www.professorshouse.com/your-home/environmentally-friendly/recycling-aluminum-cans.aspx. Recycling-Revolution.com. A Recycling Revolution.2010. 16 April 2010 http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html. 20. Shaw, Peter J., Joanne K. Lyas and Malcolm D.Hudson. "Quantitative analysis of recyclablematerials composition: Tools to support decisionmaking in kerbside recycling."Resources, Conservation and Recycling 29 December2005: 263-269. Spillman, Pat. "The ABCS of Unrelenting Waste."The Environmental Magazine March/April 2008: 11-12. Strong, Debra L. Recycling in America. Second. SantaBarbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1997. Tokai, Akihiro and Tohru Furuichi. "Evaluation ofrecycling policies for PET bottles based onmultiattribute utility indices." J Mater Cycles WasteManagement (1999): 7079. 21. Scott A. EkleberryScott_eklebery@sbcglobal.net